Star Trek XXXP Mission One
by Font Bookfarthing
Summary: This is the first adventure (in a proposed series) of a crew of civilians on a psychic research project.


Star Trek: The Xeno-Psychic Perception Project - Mission One

By

Font Bookfarthing

This is the research of the Xeno-Psychic Perception Project.

It's mission is to explore the largely untapped potential of psychic abilities.

To seek out psychically advanced life forms and study their control of mind over matter.

To prove that mind and matter are not separate, but are in fact together the very fabric of the universe itself.

Mission One

Doctor Robert Barret stood in the desert. The sun was bright, sending waves of heat down on his fragile body. And the sand spread out forever, like an ocean before him, with waves caught in a still frame. He had no idea what planet he was on... or how he had gotten there. But he did know that he was searching for something.

Slowly he noticed that there was a being standing nearby. It was difficult to determine what species the being was. He seemed to be made of glass.

The being beckoned slowly.

So Barret began to follow.

He tried to catch up to the being. But whenever he increased his pace, the being before him seemed to increase his pace as well. And he was having trouble walking through the endless sand dunes.

Soon his legs began to ache with the effort of walking through the sand. It was mid-day. He looked up towards the sun, shielding his eyes from both the light and the heat. Which sun was that? As he continued on, it occurred to him that he ought to feel hot. Thirsty. But strangely he didn't feel either. Still... that didn't seem to matter. He shrugged mentally and continued on.

Eventually he noticed that he could no longer see the translucent being whom he had been following. He stopped. He was completely alone in the desert. "Hello?" he called. "HELLO!" But only the gentle wind bothered to respond.

And then he saw the being again in the distance through the heat haze! He ran to it.

But as he approached, he realized that this was not the same being. This one was opaque. Dr. Barret froze, still some distance away. Who could this be? He waved and the humanoid figure waved back. At least it was friendly. He quickened his pace and headed for this person.

As he got closer, he saw that it appeared to be himself: another Doctor Robert Barret. When they finally reached one another, the other Dr. Barret greeted him with a smile.

Then he looked down and saw a scorpion in the sand. It scuttled along on its own scorpion business… making its own way across the sand. Dr. Barret watched it for a moment until he was overwhelmed by a feeling of satisfying fulfillment.

Doctor Robert Barret awoke with a start! His eyes shot wide open as he lay in his bed, staring into the darkness.

It was only a dream. And yet this was the third time he had had that dream. Obviously it meant something. He just had to decipher what the images meant to him.

He sat up and adjusted the pillow behind his back. He thought about the sand. It reminded him of something. But it just didn't feel like any of the local deserts where he was currently staying on the planet Vulcan. Nor did it seem to be a desert from back home on Earth. He simply knew that it was someplace else...

He was thirty-five, had black hair which he kept slicked back, and was of slight build.

He climbed out of bed and poured himself a drink of water. "Hot as Vulcan." Even the nights were hot here in the northern hemisphere. He walked over to his window and gazed out into the desert night just outside the hotel. The window was open and there was a pleasant breeze on his bare chest. He closed his eyes, inhaled the night air deeply… and let his mind drift.

The dream...

The desert...

Not Vulcan...

Not Earth...

_Don't even think_, he had to remind himself. _Just drift_...

Drift...

His eyes shot open! He picked up his tricorder and began recording; "It's four-twenty in the morning. Still on the planet Vulcan. I just woke up from a dream in which I was walking through a desert. It was a desert on the planet Nimbus III. I don't know from where the thought came from, but it came bursting into my mind with a clarity I seldom experience in life! I am filled now with a certainty that I must go to the planet Nimbus III. I believe that that is where I will find myself." He turned the tricorder off.

In another part of the galaxy, a ship which looked like a Terran scorpion moved through a self-made warp in space.

In one of the cabins inside the ship, Barry Styles, panting for breath, dropped down onto the bed beside Valerie. She was a short blond human female in her late twenties. Barry himself was in his early thirties, and was just starting to lose his youthful figure. It took him several moments to catch his breath. Valerie too was glowing and panting. "Wow," was her only comment on Barry's sexual accomplishments.

Satisfied with her comment, Barry kissed her cheek, made spoons with her and began to drift off to sleep.

But Valerie had something on her mind. There were a few things she needed to say. "Barry... have you thought any more about what I told you?"

"Yeah," he whispered.

"And?" she prompted. "What do you think?"

"I don't know what to do. You said there's no cure."

"Well..." she said musingly. "Have you had a look at the cargo we're carrying?"

"No. We always promise our clients that we won't peak."

"That never stops Captain Krell," she pointed out.

"True. But I try to keep my word even if our captain doesn't." He paused. Then he opened his eyes and looked at her left ear, as that was the closest he could get to her face from his position. "I take it you peaked?"

She rolled over to look him in the eye, "It's something from the planet Camus II. Apparently it's supposed to swap bodies."

He was too sleepy to try to work that one out. "In what way?"

"I mean you take two people, put them in either receptacle, switch it on, and now they're in each other's bodies."

"Okay," he started to wake up again. "That's interesting. But assuming it works, what about it?"

"Well, think about it. It's my body that has with Sylbar's syndrome. If this equipment really can transfer the mind from one body to another, then I don't have to be stuck in this... this _shell_, as the Klingons say. I can transfer to another body; a healthy body."

Barry leaned up on an elbow and looked at her intently, "And which body were you planning to take?"

She bobbed her head a moment. "Lam."

"The tribble?" Barry asked, making sure they were both talking about the same thing.

"Just temporarily. Until you can find me something else."

"What do you mean until I can find you something else?"

"Obviously I won't be able to do much in a tribble's body. But considering the, um... less than savory nature of the people with whom we associate, I'm sure that eventually you'll find someone... someone female, who... well..." She couldn't bring herself to say out loud, "someone who deserves life maybe a bit less than I do. A convicted killer or something. You know...

"Anyway," she went on. "This voyage will be over tomorrow afternoon. If I don't seize this moment... now..." She left the rest unsaid and simply looked into her lover's eyes.

Barry opened his mouth at that point because he felt he ought to say something. But nothing came out… for quite some time.

Barry and Valerie, now fully dressed, crept down to the cargo bay. Nobody else was about. Only Calayna was awake at this hour, and she was well out of the way up on the bridge. In her hands, Valerie held the tribble, Lam, purring softly.

They opened the double doors and stepped inside. The equipment took up a large section of the floor space. There was simply a tarpaulin draped over it. Barry grabbed the tarpaulin and pulled. Standing before them stood two huge receptacles, like platforms with what looked like nothing more than a wall covered with ornate carvings of some sort of alien script.

Barry looked concernedly at Valerie, "I assume you read the manual?"

"Sort of," she admitted. "Our client, Doctor Bigon has a research file on his computer. I sort of accessed it and glanced through it a bit."

"_Glanced _through it? A _bit_?"

"I read all the relevant sections. Most of his file was about how he came across it and what he plans to do with it."

Barry shook his head. "I don't know. If anything goes wrong… we're up the creek without a paddle."

Valerie leaned up to kiss him gently on the cheek. "I'll be fine. The worst that can happen is I'll die… just a few months earlier."

They hugged each other for a long time. Finally Valerie stepped up onto the receptacle. She set Lam down on one side and then stood in the other. She smiled bravely at Barry. "You see these two switches over here?" she indicated the side of the machine nearest her.

"Yeah."

"Flip the bottom switch, then the top one."

Barry walked slowly over to the switches. He touched Valerie's hand briefly. He mouthed, "I love you," as he flipped first one switch…. The strange alien script lit up… and then he flipped the second switch and stood back.

The machine hummed. Valerie's and Lam's bodies glowed. And in a moment, it was over…

The body of Valerie however fell over, lay on the floor and just stared off into space, drooling.

Barry's stomach rebelled and he nearly vomited. He leapt to her side and tried to get a response. But she just lay there, alive but totally still… He picked her up and carried her quickly down to sickbay.

An hour later the entire crew was awake and trying to help. Their passenger, Doctor Bigon slept undisturbed in his cabin. It was not a large crew. There was Captain Krell and Koral, the two Klingons. And also there was Calayna the former Orion slave girl. Calayna was the only one qualified in first aide. Unfortunately, what had happened to Valerie, or at least to her body, was way beyond mere first aide. In the end, all that Calayna could do was to lie her down in a bed and make her comfortable.

"We need to find Lam," Barry explained.

Captain Krell hated the tribble... obviously. "Why?" he asked suspiciously.

But Barry didn't have time to explain. "We just do."

Krell took a menacing step towards Barry. He was six and a half feet tall, and therefore had about five inches on Barry. "What have you two humans been up to? Is it something to do with our cargo?" When Barry didn't answer, Krell had his answer, "Don't you know that we sign a contract with our clients!? Only I as captain can break the rules and to peek!"

But Barry could hardly hear the rantings of his captain. He got down on all fours and scanned the floor. The Klingons and the Orion watched him, still having no idea what was going on.

And then he found it. The tribble! The light beige ball of fur moved along the floor.

Barry reached down and scooped it up. He looked closely, intensely at it as it wobbled slightly in his hands, but as he waited for some sign, it was virtually impossible to tell if there was an intelligent mind in there.

Krell sneered at the tribble. "What are you doing with that piece of dirt?"

"Um..." Barry began. He inhaled deeply... and told his tale.

Still on the planet Vulcan, Dr. Barret entered the office of Seldek his young Vulcan assistant. The two had been working together for some time on the Xeno Psychic Perception Project. And now Barret had to take his leave of the young Vulcan.

"I'm leaving Vulcan tomorrow," he said simply. Having lived on Vulcan for some time, he was used to simply getting to the point in his conversations.

"Why?" Seldek asked, looking up from his computer screen. Seldek had short black hair, and was tall and thin.

"I'm boarding the _USS Olympus_. She's taking me to the planet Nimbus III where I will continue my research on other plants."

"But you can't do that," the young Vulcan protested. "I've put in four years, eight months, five days and eleven hours of effort into this project already."

"Yes, you have. And I thank you for it. But you've always known that my stay here on Vulcan was temporary. It's now time for me to move on. Don't tell me you've become emotionally attached to this project?"

"Of course not," Seldek almost whined. "It's just that I've started the project, I am now obliged to see it through. I also don't think it would be fair to you."

"Why not?"

"Well, obviously my input has been invaluable. If I were to leave you on your own at this point, I doubt you would get very far."

Barret nodded knowingly. What he knew in this case was that he would definitely lose the argument with Seldek, even though the Vulcan was flat wrong. "Well then, you'd better come with me."

"But I don't want to go to Nimbus III. I think we should stay here."

Barret shook his head. "I'm sorry, Seldek. But there's only so much we can do on one planet. We have to start visiting other worlds and other life forms. And I'm going to start with Nimbus III. Tomorrow."

Seldek almost sighed. "Then logically I will have to come with you after all."

The scorpion-shaped _Paq'naj_ landed in the public landing zone on Nimbus III. It sat on the tarmac, surrounded by other space ships from many different worlds.

Within minutes of setting down, Federation security guards boarded the ship. They burst onto the bridge, brandishing phasers. Calayna and Barry held very still, not wanting to have any casual movements misinterpreted as resisting arrest. Koral, the ship's Klingon security officer, leapt to his feet, revealing his full eight-foot height to the comparatively puny Federation guards. He was ready to tear the intruders apart and chew on their corpses. But Captain Krell, a mere six and a half feet, jumped between his security officer and the Federation guards. "No, Koral!" He turned to the intruders, "What's going on!?" Krell demanded. "You have no right to enter my ship!"

But the lead guard pulled out a padd showing his warrant. "I'm afraid we have full authority to detain and arrest those who transport illegal equipment from Federation space. And that would be you."

"What illegal equipment!?"

"Your cargo. Dr. Bigon's scientific equipment has been reported stolen from Starbase eleven."

The Klingon flustered, "But how was I to know that what we were transporting illegal equipment!? I have all my clients sign a contract guaranteeing that their cargo is right and legal!"

The lead guard nodded understandingly. "We'll have to show this to the judge. In the meantime, I need for you and your crew to come with us. You're all under arrest as of now."

When one of the guards motioned for Barry to follow them, he held up the harmless little tribble in his hands. "Is there any objection to my taking Lam here?"

The guards exchanged looks.

Barry went on, "You can't leave her here. Or do you have the facilities for taking care of tribbles?"

The guard slumped his shoulders, "Just keep it under control."

"Thank you."

Vision, hearing, taste, touch, smell. The five senses. But then there is also extra sensory perception. But why do we refer to it as _extra_ sensory perception? Clearly if we can perceive it, then we have some sort of sensor capable of perceiving it. But since telepathy, precognition, telekinesis and so on are not physical, then the sensory apparatus must also be non-physical. An aspect of the mind, or spirit. We know that there is a non-physical aspect to the universe. Knowledge itself is non-physical. Also memory, emotions. And yet we perceive thought and memory and emotions.

Extra Sensory Perception has been with the human race probably as long as there has been a human race. In some cases it is minor, in some cases it is extraordinary. On stardate 1312.4, the _USS Enterprise _encountered the barrier at the edge of the galaxy. There they found the disaster recorder from a previous ship to encounter the same phenomenon; the _Valiant_. Both ships had crew members who subsequently suffered from what can only be described as an explosion of ESP, far beyond their ability to control it. Their abilities to perform amazing feats quickly outstripped their moral sense of right and wrong.

Many years later on stardate 41263.1, the _USS Enterprise D_, encountered an aspect of the universe where the very thoughts of the crew appeared to merge with physical reality itself. They were assisted by a mysterious traveler from Tau Alpha C, who explained to them that time and space and thought were not the separate things we generally believe them to be. An idea that stretches as far back as the 20th century and the beginnings of quantum mechanics.

I propose to explore this largely untapped potential of human existence. I plan to make contact with other life forms such as the Q, the Metrons, and the Organians to study their mastery of mind over matter... in an attempt to show that mind and matter are not in fact separate, but rather are simply different aspects of the same whole.

Captain Smith, commanding officer of the Federation Starship _Olympus,_ read the proposal one more time. "Very interesting." He looked back up at the paper's author: Dr. Robert Barret, sitting across from him. Seldek, who sat next to Barret in the captain's ready room, then spoke, "He left out most of the more interesting features of our research."

"Like what?"

"Like my contribution."

"I see," said the captain, who was well aware of Vulcan arrogance. He turned back to Barret, "How far have you come with your research?"

"Not nearly as far as I would like."

"Yes, I understand you've been on Vulcan for the past few years."

"Yes. But it's only now that I've felt compelled to go anywhere else."

The captain frowned in puzzlement. "Is that how you're doing your research? Just following your whims?"

"That is an integral component of the entire subject of our research. If psychic phenomena is real, then in order to examine it fully, I _must _let my inner feelings influence me."

Captain Smith smiled sympathetically. "And what do you hope to find on the planet Nimbus III?"

"The answer to a dream."

The captain frowned again. "What do you mean?"

Barret folded his hands on the tabletop and leaned forwards towards the captain. He lowered his voice, "Recently I've been having a recurring dream in which I am walking through a desert. This particular desert is to be found on the planet Nimbus III. In the dream I encounter an alien I could not identify, another me, and a scorpion. I am then overwhelmed by a profound feeling of fulfillment. I believe it is there that I will find some of my answers." He sat back to let the captain absorb the story.

The captain nodded slowly. Being a captain in Star Fleet, he had encountered a large number of strange stories over the years. He had even encountered one race himself which had psycho-kinetic powers. Compared to that and some of the other things he had heard in his thirty year career, this was perfectly normal. He smiled, "Well, I hope it works out for you."

A voice came over the speakers, "Captain Smith, we are on final approach to the planet Nimbus III."

"We're on our way."

Smith, Barret and Seldek rose. Smith lead the way through the doors of his ready room and onto the bridge of the _USS Olympus_, the crew all busy at their controls. Smith checked the sensor readings. "Take us out of warp."

And suddenly a small dot in the center of the screen inflated to show a huge beige sphere.

Barret looked at the image of the planet on the screen. "The planet of galactic peace," he commented somewhat facetiously.

The captain put his hand on Barret's shoulder sympathetically. "I'm sure you'll do fine down there. Now, I have no wish to rush you unnecessarily, but we do have other duties several sectors away."

"Of course." He shook the captain's hand, "My thanks for the ride, captain. It was a pleasure."

Seldek gave the captain the Vulcan salute and followed.

Barret and Seldek materialized on the surface of the planet. It was dry, dusty and bright. Barret immediately put his hand over his eyes to shade them. It was a desert planet. Seldek seemed perfectly content. They stood at the arched entrance to ill-named Paradise City. It was a small town. There was mainly foot traffic, an occasional blue horse, and an even rarer run-down surface vehicle chugging along, though most of the vehicles they saw simply sat in the dirt where they had been abandoned over the years. The locals were mainly humans, Klingons and Romulans, as those were the three species who had founded the planet over a hundred years ago. But there was also a decent mixture of many of the species of the Alpha Quadrant.

Barret hefted his single bag of belongings over his shoulder and headed for the local hotel. "This way." Seldek followed quietly, carrying his own small bag of possessions.

The hotel was a single-story building, but it spread out into a large rectangle with an empty and dirty swimming pool at the center.

There was a snoring Klingon behind the counter. "Excuse me!" Barret said loud enough to wake him. The Klingon was fat, offensively odorous, and had the longest hair Barret had ever seen on a Klingon.

The Klingon cracked a single eyelid open just a slit. He noticed the human and Vulcan being standing before him. Then he closed it again and feigned going back to sleep.

Barret looked about, noticed a collection of old-fashioned metallic keys on the wall behind the Klingon. "Well," he said, turning to Seldek. "I suppose we could just help ourselves to one of those keys and find a couple of rooms for ourselves." He then placed his hands on the counter, readying himself for a leap over it... when the Klingon slapped a solid arm down on the counter, effectively blocking him.

"Ah," Barret smiled. "Two rooms, please. Joining, if that's possible."

The Klingon grudgingly handed him two keys, feigned taking a retinal scan with a long-since broken retinal scanner, and went back to sleep.

"Thank you very much," Barret said politely.

Seldek gave him the Vulcan salute and followed Barret.

His room was almost exactly as Barret had anticipated. Not actually dirty, but it certainly looked as though it had been neglected since the planet had been founded over a century ago. The blankets on the bed were in a disordered heap, as if the previous occupant had simply tossed them aside when getting up. Clearly the concept of a room service had yet to reach this planet.

"Cosy," he said to himself, dropping down onto the bed, which surprisingly held his weight.

_Mission log: stardate 66844.9, Doctor Robert Barret recording. We have arrived on the planet Nimbus III. The locals are a taciturn bunch to say the least. Local accommodations: unwelcoming in the extreme. My tricorder shows me that I am sharing this room with eighteen other life forms, all of which appear to be some sort of insect. In the meantime, it's been a long journey and I am as tired as a Romulan sea slug. I've set my phaser to stun and run it over the room a couple of times to make sure that my roommates refrain from bothering me during my slumber. Good night._

The next morning, Barret and Seldek met for breakfast. There were very few places in town that appeared vaguely appetizing. They finally agreed upon a small place run by Tellerites. The food was mainly dry and spicy bread products. But at least it was tolerable.

After breakfast the two stood outside in the dirt road, wondering what to do next. "I sincerely hope that that culinary disappointment wasn't destined to be the highlight of our visit here," Seldek said.

"I don't think so," Barret said distractedly.

"So what do we do now?"

Barret looked around. Nothing struck him as interesting or worth investigating. Finally he had to admit, "I don't know. We walk around, I suppose."

Seldek shrugged, "We could have done that back on Vulcan. But very well."

The two walked along the force field which served as a fence of the local space ship impound lot. It was simply a section of desert with a force field fence around it. It covered hundreds of square kilometers, and was filled with dozens of small space ships of varying designs and origins. There were Terran ships, Klingon, Romulan, Andorian... and then suddenly Barret stopped dead. His eyes widened in surprise. "Are you all right?" Seldek asked.

But Barret did not answer. He began walking forwards again, very slowly, keeping his eyes ahead. He stopped just short of the force field. What he was looking at was a space ship that was shaped more or less like a Terran scorpion. Though he did not know it, this was Captain Krell's ship, the _Paq'naj_. And standing there looking at it, it was as though the ship called out to him. It was familiar to him. It had the comfortable feeling of memory. But in this case it wasn't familiar from his past, but from his future. Slowly he pointed towards it, "What sort of ship is that?"

"I don't recognize the type. It's clearly not from around here."

Barret nodded to himself. "That's it. That's why we're here." He turned to Seldek and smiled.

"Oh," Seldek said. He looked at the ship. He looked back to Barret, "I must admit, it wasn't very satisfying. Will we be leaving now?"

Twenty minutes later, Barret and Seldek sat in the office of the impound lot manager. He was a grumpy old man from Earth. Here they were given the complete story of the _Paq'naj _and the crew's recent arrest.

Barret pulled out his Federation research identification. This gave him some authority, and he intended to use it. "With only a category eighteen crime, I believe this gives me the authority to have them released, along with their ship."

The impound lot manager checked the computer and with the local Federation embassy computer network. A moment later, confirmation came through.

"Perfect," Barret said, all smiles. "Seldek, you see to it that the crew is released, while I go to have a look at that ship."

As Seldek released the crew from the local prison facility, Dr. Barret himself proceeded to the _Paq'naj_ to start checking out the ship. On the exterior, the ship itself resembled a scorpion more than anything else. It was a couple of hundred feet long. Small by starship standards.

Barret entered the ship. The interior was not organic, but it was made to look organic: smooth, almost no right angles. He stood and looked closely at the nearest bulkhead. He placed his hand gently on it. He simply could not quite place the culture that had built it.

He found the bridge easily enough. The controls were made with the standard humanoid shape in mind. Barret took a moment to reflect on this. One of his mission parameters was to investigation as much as he could, about the progenitors. The ancient race which had seeded the entire Milky Way galaxy with their DNA millions of years ago, so that variations on the standard humanoid design arose on countless different worlds.

Then suddenly the roof fell in!

At least that was his impression. From his new position on the floor, he struggled to turn and look, and saw that he had been hit over the head by an alien! He couldn't immediately identify the species. He just had enough time to notice that it looked human with some sort of lumps on his forehead. But whatever it was suddenly swung at him again!

This time Barret had time to put up his arms in defense.

But before anything further could happen, his assailant seemed to fly backwards off of him. A moment later Barret's vision was then filled with a Klingon in civilian clothes. He was a very large Klingon. In fact he was a giant; his head nearly touching the ceiling. The Klingon then sneered down at Barret.

A voice bellowed from behind the giant, "Koral! Be nice to the human."

The Klingon then sneered a bit less and stuck a hand down in Barret's direction. Barret took it and almost had his arm pulled out of its socket as the Klingon yanked him to his feet... for which Barret thanked him.

The bellowing voice then emerged from behind the giant Klingon. It turned out to belong to another Klingon. But this one was a decently sized six and a half feet. "You must be Doctor Barret. I am Krell."

"Hello," said Barret.

Several minutes later, Barret's assailant was unconscious and successfully bound. Barret himself had had his wounds tended to by his new crew, who had all joined him on the bridge. The room was nearly four meters fore to aft, and six meters port to starboard. In the center was the pilot's station, five steps up from the deck. To port and starboard were the ship's operations station and the scanning and communications stations. Between the pilot's station and the other two were two spiral stairwells, leading down another five steps to the command level. Directly underneath the pilot's station was the command couch. All of which faced an enormous forward viewscreen. The crew had gathered on the lower command level, mostly sitting on the wide command couch.

"So who is our intruder?" Barret asked.

Krell spoke up, "He is nothing! He works for a Gorn called Slak."

Barret's eyebrows lifted, "Slak?"

"A common enough Gorn name," Seldek offered. "It's the Gorn equivalent of Tom, Dick or Harry."

Krell frowned in puzzlement.

Seldek turned to address him. "Common enough Earth names. They're the human equivalent of Kang, K'mpek or Worf."

Barret turned to Krell, "What do you know about this?"

Krell rose from the couch and began pacing the small area in front of the viewscreen. "Slak is the former owner of this vessel. Until he was clumsy enough to be arrested for smuggling. The authorities held onto the _Paq'naj_ for one hundred days and then sold it at auction... to me."

Barret nodded, "And then _you _were arrested for smuggling. Twenty more days and they'd have sold this ship to someone else." He glanced over at the unconscious alien. "Our friend here would seem to indicate that this Slak person would want this ship back."

The Klingon stuck out his hands helplessly, "Are Gorns sentimental?"

Seldek shook his head. "Not by Klingon standards. In fact sometimes they have even been known to eat their own young."

Barret nodded. "I see. Well... I think it's time we all introduced ourselves. My name is Doctor Robert Barret."

The Klingon puffed up his chest as he announced, "Krell! I am captain of the _Paq'naj_." He then turned to the other Klingon who stood towering over them all at a height of eight feet. "And you already met Koral. My security guard."

Barret had to tilt his head up to meet the gaze of the giant Koral. "Hello, again." But the Klingon's face merely sneered back.

Barret smiled one last time at the large Klingon before turning and shooting a hand towards the short green Orion girl standing before him. "And who are you?"

She just managed to tear her eyes away from Seldek. "Oh, hi. I'm Calayna." She had a short black pageboy bob of hair and wore a skimpy suit made of faux animal skins, and a _Mt. Seleya _baseball cap which she had purchased on a trip to Vulcan several years earlier. She loved Vulcans. And she had been gazing longingly at Seldek as soon as she had been released from her cell. Not only had her eyes lit up when she had first seen him, but she had actually blurted out, "Oh, my gosh! You are gorgeous!"

Finally there was a human male in his mid-thirties. He nodded politely, shaking Barret's hand. "Hi. Barry Styles." And then he held up the tribble he had been carrying, "And we think the tribble's name is Valerie."

"You think?"

He shrugged, "Well, you heard the details of our arrest?"

"Yes, I did."

Barry held up the tribble, "It was this tribble that Valerie swapped bodies with. There isn't much we can do to double-check it was successful. At least not at this point."

Dr. Barret approached the small ball of fur in Barry's hands. He reached out and stroked it gently. "So this tribble's name used to be Lamb? As in as gentle as a...?"

Barry rolled his eyes. "No. Captain Krell named it. Lam, with no B at the end, is Klingon for dirt."

"I see. I do have one more question: Why would a Klingon captain allow a tribble on his ship?"

Everyone looked embarrassed. Finally Barry spoke up. "I'm sure you know that tribbles have nothing better to do with their time than to make lots and lots of babies. Well... we are frequently, shall we say, blessed with a new litter if we feed Lam just the right amount. And when that happens... the captain and Koral... um... have extra meat for their dinner."

Barret winced. Eating of animals wasn't exactly forbidden on Earth. But it had long since fallen out of fashion. And out here where Earth was just one distant world... one had to get used to the different cultures.

He turned to the Vulcan, "Mr. Seldek, what do you think about the possibility of mind melding with this tribble?"

The disapproval was evident on the Vulcan's otherwise unemotional face even before he opened his mouth, "I'm afraid that unlike some members of my species, I find contact with other minds to be quite distasteful. Especially non-Vulcan minds. Non-Vulcan minds are, how shall I put this... not very well organized. I suppose you would experience a similar distaste if you were to go back in time and find yourself at what they used to call a rap concert."

"Rap?"

"A type of music popular in the early 21st century. It was known for being very loud and filled with angry shouting and profanity."

Barret stopped petting the tribble. "I see. Well, as the correct identity of the tribble doesn't really seem to matter at this point, I suggest we proceed with our mission."

"And what mission would that be?" Krell asked suspiciously.

Barret explained, "I've seen to it that you were all released on the provision that you spend the rest of your allotted incarceration time serving with me aboard this ship. You will still be in charge of the running of the ship itself, captain," he said to Krell. "But I will be the mission commander. We go where I say. You don't have to of course. You all have the option of returning to prison if you like. But if you do stay with me, I can promise you it will be a lot more interesting than incarceration."

"Why us?" Styles asked, curious.

Barret smiled broadly. "Because it came to me in a dream." He turned to Krell, "Captain, how soon can you get us underway?"

Two days later, after the ship had been readied, Barret and Seldek were given quarters of their own, and Barret's assailant had been turned over to the local authorities, the _Paq'naj_ lifted off from the planet Nimbus III. Dust clouds shot out from beneath the craft as it rose slowly into the sky. Once in space, it turned and headed directly for the great barrier outside the galaxy. There was a flash! And they went to warp.

Five days later the scorpion-shaped craft came out of warp and slowed to barely a crawl. It was a tiny insect approaching a vast ocean of violent reds, pinks, whites. An infinite fire in space.

The entire crew now occupied the bridge. At the sensor station sat Seldek, and at the ship operations station sat Calayna. In the central pilot's seat sat Barry. Captain Krell occupied the forward command couch in the lower forward section. Koral stood in the aft bridge section, next to the door, arms crossed as though trying to intimidate the great barrier.

Barret paced the bridge, looking over everyone's shoulders down at the various controls. He hovered for some time over Seldek at the sensor station. The two scanned the turbulent chaos before them.

Barret finally stepped down into the command pit and approached Captain Krell seated on the couch, "Captain, I'm going to need to get closer to this phenomenon if I'm going to have any success in measuring it with my equipment."

The Klingon stood up and faced the human. He still wasn't sure exactly how they were meant to relate to each other on this mission, so as any Klingon would, he simply resorted to using his own intimidating height to try to get his way. He stepped close to the smaller human and said, "I do not think that is a very good idea. As I understand our written agreement, we are here merely to carry you around wherever you like... as long as it's within reasonable safety." He pointed to the wall-sized screen before them both, "I find the idea of getting any closer than this to be _un_reasonable."

Seldek stepped rose from his station and stepped down the steps to the command level, "Captain Krell has a point. According to Federation records, 90% of the vessels to enter the barrier suffered unacceptable side effects."

Barret nodded, listening to their advice. "All right, then. This ship comes equipped with a shuttle pod, yes?"

"Yes," Krell said hesitantly.

"Then I don't see a problem if the _Poq'naj _waits for me here and I go closer on my own."

"That would be acceptable," the captain agreed, secretly hoping that the foolish human would die out there and then he could have his ship back to himself.

Barret went on, "The only trouble is I need to scan the barrier. I'll need someone else to pilot the shuttle for me." He looked around the bridge for any sign of a volunteer.

Everybody looked at everybody else. Finally the pilot, Barry Styles leaned forward from the pilot's station and craned his neck over the controls to make eye contact with Barret. Barret nodded back and gave the pilot the thumbs-up.

Twenty minutes later, the two humans; Doctor Barret and Barry Styles sat side by side in the small shuttle pod. It was a mere four meters long and two high. Inside were two bucket seats, a rear storage area, and a very tiny sub-light engine.

Before them stretched a massive ocean of red and pink energy. It stretched on and on, undulating, pulsating with unknown energies. It looked as though they had found the mythical hades. Barry half expected to see a red-faced demon with horns leering at them from the celestial inferno.

"Distance?" Barret asked.

Styles checked the readings. He sighed in frustration and shook his head. "It's hard to say. What we're looking at just isn't solid. And on top of that, it's not exactly stationary. But we're... _about_ five kilometers distance." He turned to face his passenger, "Please tell me this is close enough."

Barret peered into the phenomenon. What he was looking at was some kind of energy... stretching on as far as he could see. Was it light years across? Did it go on forever?

He pulled out his own personal tricorder which he had spent the last few days modifying specially for this mission. He began taking readings with it. What was out there wasn't solid, liquid, gaseous or even plasma. It wasn't electricity. Nor did it didn't seem to exist on the same wavelength as mental activity. Over and over again, he eliminated every possibility. He now knew that it wasn't anything known to Federation science.

He put the tricorder down in his lap and stared out the port again.

Perhaps they needed to get closer.

"Can you move us in?" he asked.

Styles looked hesitantly over at the man sitting next to him. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am," Barret said, not taking his eyes off it.

Styles cocked his head slightly, resigning himself to moving in closer. He reasoned with himself that this man was an expert in his field and he must know what he was doing. He reasoned it loudly and continuously in his mind, over and over.

As they drew slowly closer, the vast energy storm before them didn't seem to grow any larger, though according to their instruments, they were indeed closing in on it.

A moment later he fired the retro-thrusters. "Okay," he said. "This is as far as I dare..."

Barret gazed into the lights, almost hypnotized. It was difficult to gauge size, but it seemed to go on forever! It was like an angry, alien aurora borealis... like a lightning storm. He had the impression that he was gazing into a secret part of the universe. An inner working. Like looking into a living being and seeing their guts, exposed for all to see. Was this the inner workings of the universe?

It was the mind of the universe. Maybe he was looking at pure thought.

And if he concentrated, he could read the mind of the universe! He could be one with it. He could see how it all came to be.

The universe was a simple thought...

Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light!

And then blackness! Barret had been thrown back against his seat!

He blinked over and over to get his eyes to focus once again on where he was.

And then he realized that his body had felt a shock! Had it happened? He blinked a few more times before he could focus on his fingers. They felt a slight tingle... ever so slight.

Yes.

And now that it had happened, he could admit to himself that this had been his plan all along. Deep down in his subconscious he had wanted to gain almost super powers of extra sensory perception. And now he had it! He quickly spun round to find a reflective part of the controls. But the control panels were too dark to see that kind of detail.

He turned back to Barry who was leaning back in his seat, wincing in pain. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah... I guess," Gary replied, dazed.

"I want you to look into my eyes and tell me what you see."

Styles turned to look at him. And as he looked back at him, Barret could see that Styles was looking back with a blank, silver-eyed stare!

Nearly an hour after their return to the _Poq'naj, _Dr. Barret's eyes still remained stubbornly normal. He wasn't sure if he felt relieved or disappointed. But whatever his feelings about himself, they would have to wait. Right now they had a different problem on their hands. Or rather, the same problem, but with a different person. He had almost intentionally caused this same thing to happen to an innocent man. Barry Styles lay in sickbay, staring into space with silver eyes. Every now and then he would twist his head like a cat, fascinated by something that nobody else could see.

"I believe I should apologize for getting you into this," Barret said, sitting next to the bed. "I don't know any way I can make it up to you. But I would like to try." Styles turned to look at him curiously. But his glowing eyes gave Barret the uncomfortable feeling that he was simply looking _through_ him... disinterestedly. Barret continued to sit there, hoping that Styles would accept his apology. Instead, the man didn't even acknowledge it. So finally he went on, "I must confess to you that I had secretly been hoping that this whole thing was going to happen to me."

"I know," Styles said distractedly.

"Do you?" Suddenly he was intrigued. Styles was already exhibiting signs of some form of extra sensory perception. How strong was he? What could he perceive? "How do you know?" he finally asked.

Barry smiled lightly, "It's obvious. You're like a young child trying to deceive his parents."

"So your awareness has changed."

Styles nodded. "Uh, huh."

"Can I ask you... just what are your feelings for this crew?"

Styles smiled more broadly. "You're concerned for your life. You've heard about this kind of thing before. And you're worried you might have to kill me before I become too powerful."

Barret smiled awkwardly. "There's very little point in my trying to deny it, I suppose."

Styles gave a sharp exhale of a laugh. "You don't have to worry. I'm beyond any need to harm you."

"That's mildly comforting."

"It wasn't intended as comfort. It was simply a statement of fact."

Sometime later, Seldek joined Dr. Barret and Captain Krell in the ship's galley. It was a small room, with a food synthesizer on the far wall, and two tables surrounded by eight mis-matched chairs. He sat down opposite Barret. "Have you spoken with Mr. Styles?"

"Yes, I have," Barret said between bites of his meal.

The Vulcan widened his eyes in an attempt to elicit more information, "Would you like to tell me how that conversation went? I'm concerned about whether or not we're going to have to kill him. And if so, who is going to do the deed? And how will it be done? As I understand it, murder can be very messy even under ideal circumstances. And then the biggest question is who's going to have to clean up the mess?"

Barret looked up angrily. He had indeed been thinking about it. But he hadn't wanted to. And now he could redirect his anger from himself to Seldek. But before he could, his anger slipped away. "Okay," he finally said. "I have been thinking about it."

Krell withdrew his d'k tahg from its sheath, "I have to warn you that Barry Styles has been my comrade for nearly a decade. We have been through many adventures together. If anybody around here has to take his life, I will do it. But until that time," he held the knife higher, then popped open the two side blades, "nobody is to touch him."

Seldek eyed the knife... and then the Klingon. "Interesting. Are you making a threat?"

"Whatever you want to call it, Vulcan. I have spoken."

Seldek, in his Vulcan arrogance, failed to even recognize the Klingon as a threat. "I'm sorry, but you do not give orders to me. As a consequence of the Federation releasing you from prison, you are now charged with accepting orders _from _me. And if I chose to alert the Federation of this clear and present danger and request their assistance, then that is what I will do."

The Klingon laughed as though Seldek had told him the funniest joke he had ever heard. "I begin to like you, Vulcan!" He sheathed his knife and strode away.

After the doors shut behind him, Seldek turned to Dr. Barret. "Well, his sudden apparent affection for me doesn't really weigh into this problem. I still say we contact the Federation."

Barret finally nodded. "Okay. But just for advice. Right now I believe we have the situation in hand."

The two of them got up and left the galley. In the corridor, Barret turned towards sickbay, and Seldek turned towards the bridge.

Before Doctor Barret could get to sickbay however, Barry Styles had already wandered out of it. He walked slowly down the corridor of the _Paq'naj_, running his hand along the bulkhead. It was made of metal. The metal had been mined on a distant planet. Behind the walls were circuits and wires, installed by beings from that distant planet. An insect race which had evolved over millions of years into what they were today. Barry played a game for half a second and predicted their continued evolution for the next million years. Little change. It was the same with most space-faring life forms. Evolution was dependent upon environment. And most space-faring races had the know-how to alter their environments to suit their bodies. Hence evolution for these races was at a virtual stand-still.

His mind had been doing a lot of that since waking up: wandering. He would look at a mere wall and end up contemplating the evolution of the various dominant species of the galaxy.

He reached his quarters. The door slid open. His mind raced as he understood every aspect of how the opening mechanism worked, and further, how to affect it with his mind. The door slid closed again behind him. He turned and looked at it as he opened it and closed it again merely by thinking about it. Finally, bored with his new toy, he sat down on his bed.

Valerie was pleased that he had returned.

Where had that come from?

He looked around and saw the tribble sitting next to him on his bed. And he knew, he finally knew without doubt that Valerie's mind was safely in the body of this ball of fur.

He altered the effect of the artificial gravity around her and let her float gently through the air and brought her to a stop, hovering quietly in front of his face. She was enjoying that. He smiled softly. He put out a hand and gently touched her fur with the tips of his fingers. Valerie began to purr.

Seldek entered the bridge. He sat down at the ship's operations station and tried to open a communications channel. It wasn't working. He tried again. The communications channels were being jammed. He assumed that it must have been Krell, looking out for his ship-mate. He marched to the forward section of the bridge and stepped down the five steps to the command couch where Krell sat.

"I have to ask you something," the Vulcan announced. "Have you jammed our communications channels?" the Vulcan asked.

"What!?" the Klingon bellowed.

"I asked you if you had jammed our communications channels."

"Why would I do such a thing!?"

"Perhaps to make sure that your shipmate, Mr Barry Styles, has not been reported to the Federation authorities."

The Klingon stood to his full height, several inches taller than the Vulcan. "That... tactic," he nearly spat the word out, "is beneath a Klingon!"

Seldek simply remained standing, completely blank-faced. He waited a moment longer in case the Klingon had anything useful to bring to the conversation. Which he didn't. "That still doesn't answer my question."

Krell growled, sitting himself back down on the command couch. "You have the only answer I will give you, Vulcan."

"Then why are all communications channels being jammed?"

Krell was suddenly concerned. "Are they?"

"Yes."

The two of them walked over to the ship's operations station. Krell tried to open a channel, and found it jammed. He immediately turned towards Koral, standing near the bridge's main doors, "Koral! Something is wrong! Prepare for combat!"

This was the first time that Seldek had seen the giant Klingon smile.

A moment later they heard the sound of a transporter beam. Something was beaming onto the bridge! But whatever it was was not immediately apparent. They looked frantically around, finally spotting a small cannister, about the size of a fist, sitting on the deck. And as soon as they saw it, it burst! Gas instantly shooting out and filling the bridge!

But before they could react, several forms materialized on the bridge! They were under attack! There was no telling what species they were, as the attackers all wore environment suits to protect them from the gas.

Krell and Seldek fell to their knees. Koral had just enough fight left in him to shoot a fist through the faceplate of one of the attackers, instantly crushing the attacker's skull... before finally toppling to the deck like a giant tree felled in the woods.

Elsewhere on the ship, Gary sat in his cabin, controlling Valerie's gentle flight through the air in front of him. And then he felt trouble. He saw the pirates in his mind. He set Valerie down gently and left his cabin.

He turned a corner and came face to faceplate with two of the intruders. They fired.

Dissipating the energy of the phasers was absurdly simple. And then he zapped them both with several thousand volts of electricity. It came to him almost instinctively.

A moment later, two more attackers came running around the corner. He lifted his hand to zap them as well, when suddenly another one was behind him! Whoever it was fired! He had been distracted by the ones in front of him! He turned to zap the one behind him, but then the ones in front of him shot him again... and again... finally making him lose consciousness.

The attackers stood over him.

"Is he dead?"

"No. But he should be. Our rifles are set on maximum. His body should be mere vapor at this point."

"Okay, then we'll have to get rid of him some other way. Stick in him an escape pod and blast it into space."

On the bridge, the gas had finally dissipated. The aliens removed their masks. Among them were three Cardassians, an Andorian and a Tellerite. One of the Cardassians took out a communicator and spoke into it. "All clear."

A moment later another transporter beam glowed into existence, quickly solidifying and finally revealing a Gorn. The Gorn, Slak, stepped slowly and menacingly over to the unconscious Krell, lying on the command couch in the lower forward section of the bridge.

The reptile reached down and gripped the Klingon's neck. With a single hand, he lifted Krell's body up into the air. Krell coughed himself into consciousness. He opened his eyes and noticed the Gorn holding him. His own hands shot out the try to strangle the Gorn. But it wasn't having any effect.

"This ship is mine," the Gorn growled, overwhelming Krell with the very worst breath he had ever encountered in his life.

Krell moved his hands to his own throat and tried to remove the Gorn's hand. But the grip of the reptile was like steel.

He kicked!

He hit!

He began to convulse!

His hitting and kicking began to slow down.

His eyes rolled back into his skull...

Slak opened his hand and let the lifeless body of Krell fall to the floor.

Standing over the dead Klingon, he turned the others. "Where is the rest of his crew?"

"Tied up in the cargo bay."

The Gorn nodded. "Excellent. Leave them there. For now."

In the cargo bay of the Paq'naj, sat Robert, Seldek, Koral, Robert and Calayna; arms tied behind their backs.

Standing over them were two Saurians. One held a phaser on the subdued crew, the other had just finished securing Krell with three sets of rope.

"Now then,"said the Saurian with the phaser. "We expect you four to remain where you are. If you try anything..." He didn't get any further, as Koral suddenly hurled himself through the air and into the reptilian guard who had just tied him up. Arms still tied behind his back, the Klingon used his body as a massive projectile, crushing the reptile between himself and the bulkhead. The other brought the phaser round to bear on the giant Klingon, firing a stun blast... and knocking him unconscious to the floor with a boom!

The Saurian guard swung the phaser back around to cover the others, in case they chose

to seize that moment to launch their own attack. But on seeing the phaser pointed in their direction, and having barely had time to tense up, they held still.

The guard then checked on his companion. He felt for a pulse.

He waited a moment to make sure he would find the pulse.

But the pulse never came.

He sighed.

His companion was dead.

Barry Styles woke up slowly.

If he was awake, that is.

Was he awake?

It was hard to tell.

He was in his physical body. That much became obvious.

It took him several seconds to realize that he was in an escape pod.

It took him another couple of seconds to reason that he should definitely not be in the escape pod.

Had there been a party?

Where was everyone else?

He reached out with his mind. The escape pod was no longer inside the ship. He was floating alone in space.

He had to find the others. He reached out further.

Within moments, he found Valerie. But this was only because she was calling out to him.

The tribble sitting alone on the floor of Barry's cabin was the only one on the ship who was calling out to Barry with her mind. The others were in peril and easily detectable. But they were not calling out to him.

Almost casually, Barry brought the ship back around the escape pod, so that it was exactly where it had been in the ship before ejecting. He wasn't even sure exactly how he accomplished it. It was like walking. There were bones and muscles involved, receiving signals from the brain. But now it was external objects receiving signals from his brain... or rather his mind. The brain, he suddenly realized, was like an interface. It was like a sensory organ. It was how his non-physical mind accessed the physical world.

There was no one on the other side of the escape pod's hatch. He opened it, stepped down into the ship, and closed the hatch behind him again.

Next, it was a simple enough task of standing there in the corridor and locating all of the life forms aboard the ship. The crew were tied up in the cargo bay. The Gorn and his crew were on the bridge.

And now to rescue them.

In the cargo bay, Koral stirred. He eventually woke up and tried to rise, but found that his legs were now bound as well as his arms. He looked over to Barret. Seldek and Calayna.

"They're not happy with you," Barret told him.

"They almost killed you after what you did," Calayna added.

"That will be their last mistake," Koral growled. He then strained to free his arms. It was not so easy this time. He stopped, caught his breath, began growling and pulling at the same time, his voice getting louder and louder until finally he was howling... and his arms tore free of the six layers of rope!

He quickly tore and pulled at the rope around his legs, and had them free in a moment. He immediately headed for the door. When he was stopped by Barret.

"Hold on there, big guy. We can't just go barreling out there. We need a plan. Okay?"

Koral glared down at the tiny human. Eyes glowing with warrior hatred, he finally growled, "I will kill them. After freeing you."

"That's a good plan," Barret had to admit.

The giant Klingon picked up Calayna first, turned her around, gripped her restraints and pulled...

The Saurian guard stood on the other side of the door. He had heard the Klingon growling and howling on the other side of the door. But then it seemed to stop. That was when he really started to worry. He pulled out his phaser.

He reached out a tentative hand toward the open button. He held his gun at the ready. He stuck out his index finger and pressed the button. The doors hissed open. Unexpectedly, the green Orion girl immediately flopped out at his feet, crying about being locked up in there. When the guard's eyes were on her, the giant Koral leapt out and with a single punch, burying his fist in the Saurian's neck, almost taking his head from his shoulder.

The body hung lifelessly from the end of Koral's arm. In fact he had to grab the guard's shoulder and pull his hand out of the sticky mess he had made. He wiped the blood off distractedly on his clothing.

"Let's get to the bridge," Robert said.

But before they could get two steps, the alarm sounded throughout the ship! Dr. Barret took a split-second to realize that he had never heard this ship's alarm before, and a further split-second to be surprised that it even had one. But when the phaser blasts started, he changed his train of thought.

The phaser blasts were coming from the end of the corridor down which they were heading. The four of them skidded to a stop, bumping into each other clumsily, turned and headed back around the corner… only to be greeted by phaser beams coming from the other direction. The corridor had a right angle, and only two directions in which to run… and the enemy were occupying both directions.

The shooting stopped. Clearly the enemy knew they had them too.

Barret was still formulating options along the lines of negotiation, surrender, taking each other's hands and dying as comrades… when Calayna said to Koral, "I'll take these guys," pointing down one corridor, "Seldek, you and I will take the others." And before Barret could protest, Calayna let out some sort of Orion battle-cry, grabbed the Vulcan's hand and ran with him down the corridor as fast as her little legs would carry her, while Koral bounded down the other. Barret's eyes darted back and forth, torn between being a gentleman and simply surviving. As a gentleman, he felt it his duty to accompany her to her death, even if Seldek was with her already. On the other hand, if he accompanied Koral, he had the surest chance of survival.

But before he could decide what to do, he realized that the running had come to a stop. From both corridors. But there had been no phaser shots fired. That was odd.

The corridors were not lit very well, so he could only see shadows at either end… moving slightly. "Hello?" he called, instantly cringing and thinking that was stupid, just in case his comrades were indeed dead and their attackers did not know that he was still in hiding. But a moment later, he heard Calayna call to him, "It's all right."

Barret turned to look for Koral, who was now walking up the corridor to meet him. He came to a stop over the puny human. "Already dead," he said almost disappointedly. Together, the two of them headed down the other corridor to join Calayna and Seldek. There they found them, along with Barry Styles.

"Shall we go to the bridge?" Styles suggested casually.

The doors to the bridge opened.

Having just lost contact with his troopers, Slak knew he was now under attack. He held up Krell's lifeless body with one hand, and held a phaser to it with the other. The Klingon captain was long since dead, but hopefully his attackers did not know that.

"Make one move," the Gorn growled, "and your captain dies!" He gestured to his one remaining trooper, an Andorian, "Take their weapons."

But before the trooper could take his first step, Barry lifted his hand and let fly a burst of electricity, instantly frying the blue alien. Barry then walked slowly up to the giant lizard, still holding the dead body of Krell. Barry knew he was dead. And behind him came Koral. Koral too could deduce that his captain and long-time friend was dead. Neither of them were very happy with the Gorn.

Realizing his situation, Slak slowly set Krell's body on the deck, then lifted his hands over his head in surrender.

"They shot you with their phasers?" Dr Barret asked, intrigued.

"I was unfazed by their phasers," Barry replied. Was that a joke?

"But why did he want the ship so much?" Calayna asked the rest of the crew as they sat around the bridge, the bodies and the Gorn having been handed over to Federation authorities.

"For the hidden treasure," Barry said casually as he sat in the corner, making Valerie the tribble float gently in front of his face.

"Hidden treasure!?"

"I saw it in his mind. Under the floor panel. There..." He raised a single finger, and one of the floor panels tore itself loose and flopped over to the side, revealing a secret compartment in which sat a large chest.

The chest was three feet wide by two deep and two high. It was so heavy, only Koral could lift it. He grabbed it by two handles on the sides and heaved it out onto the deck.

Everyone hesitated. Finally Koral opened it up.

Inside was heavy packing material to protect whatever was in there.

They gently removed the packing material... and Robert froze!

It was a statuette. And it was seven inches long.

He picked it up and looked at it. It was a figurine of a being. An alien of some kind. He recognized it too; it was the being from his dream.

"It's one of the progenitors," Seldek observed.

"What?"

"The ancient race which seeded their DNA throughout the galaxy. They are the reason so many life forms have the same basic humanoid shape, and are able to reproduce with each other."

Dr. Barret knew exactly who the progenitors were.

Seldek had his tricorder out and was scanning the figurine. "This is made of solid diamond." He handed it to Dr. Barret, who took it reverently. Unable to find the right words, Dr. Barret finally let out a whistle at that bit of news. A moment later, he found what he thought were the right words, "Oh, man!"

Calayna walked into the galley. Barry sat at the table. Before him were several plates full of some sort of strange gooey, soupy substance which she could not identify. Some of it had spilled all over the table. But Barry ignored the mess, staring deeply into a single sandwich on a plate in front of him.

"Hi, Barry," she sweetly as she got her own dinner out of the food synthesizer. It was an Orion salad. "What you doing?" she asked.

Not taking his eyes off of the sandwich, but twisting his head to the right very slowly, he held up a singer index finger, "Watch..." And then the sandwich turned into another puddle of goo.

"Yum," the green girl commented sarcastically.

Barry turned his glowing silver eyes on her. He seemed to be angry and distant both at the same time.

For a second, Calayna worried what he might do. This was no longer the fun-loving colleague she had known for the past few years. He had become a stranger. A stranger with frightening powers and unpredictable moods.

And then the moment passed. Barry got up slowly and walked out. Calayna breathed a sigh of relief and sat down to eat her own dinner... wondering who would clean up this large collection of mush.

Barry entered his quarters. The tribble sat near the pillow of his bed. He sat down next to her. "I can't do it," he said. He reached over and stroked her fur gently. "Whenever I try to transmute a sandwich into anything else, it always comes out as liquid. Just a puddle of organic mush. I cannot try turning you back into a human being."

He turned to face the tiny tribble. A single tear leaked out of his silver eyes, "I'm sorry," he whispered.

The tribble purred. Barry continued to stroke her fur gently.

Calayna entered the bridge. Seldek was alone at the controls as the only member necessary for the night shift. "Barry's all mixed up," she said by way of greeting.

"Mixed up? Or corrupted absolutely?"

Calayna sat on the side of the controls which Seldek was operating. "I'd say mixed up."

"Interesting," the Vulcan said. "We may have to amend the saying to 'absolute power makes you mixed up'."

"You're funny," she said, smiling.

"I wasn't intending to be funny," Seldek replied, deadpan.

Calayna smiled even more.

_Captain's log, first entry. _

_Captain Krell is dead. He gave his life for the rest of us. Koral has decided to stay. Calayna will clearly go anywhere Seldek goes. And Barry… doesn't seem to care. So for the time being, he remains on this ship._

_The crew has decided that until they have their freedom, and as long as I am in charge of these missions anyway, it would be best if I were to act as captain as well. I have accepted this position and will perform it to the best of my ability._

_Our next mission has not yet been decided. Until it has, I intend to give the crew shore leave on the first available planet. A happy crew is an efficient crew._

_In the meantime, I will watch my dreams._


End file.
